Ballpark Throws Doozy For Closing Act

October 25, 1996|By Larry Guest of The Sentinel Staff

ATLANTA — It was only appropriate that Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium be interred Thursday night with a pitchers' duel. The old Dixie ballyard being decommissioned has been the home address of easily the best starting rotation in baseball in the '90s, the Atlanta Braves becoming postseason regulars because they can erect a picket fence of Cy Young awards.

And for the old stadium's final bow, the Braves had on tap Thursday what figures to be their newest Cy Young recipient, John Smoltz, to fend off the streaking New York Yankees.

But the Yankees trumped with a Cy Young candidate of their own, 24-year-old ace Andy Pettitte. Now the World Series goes back to the boisterous Bronx for the finish, with the Braves down three games to two and no doubt reviewing their blood type. The hope for the defending champ Braves lies in the facts that (a) they can dial up two more Cy Youngers, and (b) the home teams have yet to scratch in this best-of-7 that has up to two games left at Yankee Stadium.

In a year marked by Mexican Jumping Baseballs, Smoltz and Pettitte put on an old-fashioned pitching clinic, allowing a single, unearned run between them. Were it not for Atlanta center fielder Marquis Grissom's rare error that provided the 1-0 final margin, the two frustrated offenses might have labored into dawn trying to share the close company of their third-base coaches.

Smoltz promptly flexed his Cy Young credentials by striking out the side in the first. Pettitte countered by no-hitting the Braves through four innings. When teeny-bopper superstar Andruw Jones broke the spell with a single to open the fifth, Pettitte, who led the majors this year with 11 pickoffs, made Jones No. 12. The young Yankee helped himself again in the next inning, neatly turning an Atlanta sacrifice-bunt attempt into a forceout at third and then starting a rally-killing double play.

Braves manager Bobby Cox: ''Pettitte is a cat on the mound. It took some brass to throw that ball to third.''

The old stadium was packed and festive, but Atlanta, perhaps reflecting all of America, seems to have lost some of its passion for baseball's biggest show. In recent Series here, there was a noticeable baseball pulse on all those Peachtree streets. Buildings were bedecked with huge Braves banners, electronic parking-lot arms became chopping tomahawks, every waiter and sales clerk wore Braves uniform tops.

Evidence that the World Series was back in town this week was not as obvious. There were a few street vendors, and the usual magpies phoning up talk radio to second-guess Cox after those Tuesday and Wednesday losses.

Cox indeed likes to punch the buttons with a gambler's spirit, but not much strategy is apt to work when your substitutes go oh-for-23 in the Series, as Bobby's bench stands through five games. Also tough to fault him for putting in Rafael Belliard for defensive purposes late in Game 4, only to have the little glove man bobble a tailormade double-play ball. The hiccup caused Raffy to get only a forceout at second, or otherwise Jim Leyritz's game-tying, three-run homer would have been a two-run homer, and the Braves, not the Yankees, would hold the edge this morning.

The railbirds would have been better served second-guessing the arbitrator who awarded Braves lefty Steve Avery a huge raise last spring after a rotten 1995 season. You wonder if the goofy arbitrator still thinks Avery is worth $4.2 million after he walked in the winning run shortly past midnight Wednesday.

My principal second-guessing is to wonder where Hank Aaron was during the ceremonial first pitches for the three Atlanta games - particularly on Thursday before the last game to be played in the stadium where he surpassed the Babe. The Yankees opened the Series with Joe DiMaggio tossing the first ball in Game 1 for the 1,428th time in his post-career.

The Braves closed their home stand with three baseball executives sharing first-pitch honors. There was hardly a dry eye in the house.